


do you think i'll remember how you looked when you smile

by noblydonedonnanoble



Category: Big School (TV), Broadchurch, Gracepoint (TV), Monte Carlo (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - World War II, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:59:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2412494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/noblydonedonnanoble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Alicia whispers.<br/>Sarah gives her friend an amused smile. “I don’t know if I would put it that way; you didn’t need much convincing. All I said was that I wanted to visit Alec and you were immediately on board.”</p><p> </p><p>Sarah wants to visit her boyfriend, and drags Alicia along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	do you think i'll remember how you looked when you smile

**Author's Note:**

> This is a WWII-era fic; it takes place before the London Blitz, but at this point, one should assume that the possibility of war is on everyone's minds, although I allude to it only briefly here.

                “I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Alicia whispers.

                Sarah gives her friend an amused smile. “I don’t know if I would put it that way; you didn’t need much convincing. All I said was that I wanted to visit Alec and you were immediately on board.”

                “Well, I couldn’t very well let you come all the way here by yourself, could I?” She glances down at herself and brushes her dress down self-consciously. “Are you sure I look old enough in this dress?”

                “Of course you do, stop fussing.” When Alicia doesn’t listen right away, Sarah swats at her arm. “Alec says they let in any pretty girl who looks at least sixteen. Besides, you’re practically of age as it is. There really isn’t anything to worry about.”

                Despite Sarah’s reassurances, Alicia’s grimace remains. More to herself than anything else, she mutters, “God, my father will kill me if he has to drive all the way here to pick me up from the police station.”

                “We’re not going to get arrested!” Sarah exclaims, and she can’t help it if she laughs a bit at Alicia’s overactive imagination. “The worst that’ll happen is that they’ll turn us away. But they won’t, you’ll see. And tomorrow morning we’ll catch the first train back home and our parents won’t ever find out.”

                As they near the front of the queue to get into the club, Sarah pulls out her compact mirror, checking her reflection and making sure that her make-up is still pristine. It’s been nearly three months since Alec left for training, so it’s understandable why Sarah’s so eager to see her boyfriend again.

                Alicia, on the other hand, has no such reason to be looking forward to the evening. She has no sweetheart to visit, and although Sarah suggested that she could ask Alec to bring a mate along, Alicia refused the offer, lacking the desire for a blind date with an enlisted soldier  starved for female attention.

                They get into the club with no trouble at all, just as Sarah predicted. As soon as they pass through the doors, the sound of a swing band hits them full-on, and Alicia can’t help but mimic Sarah’s wide grin. Even if the circumstances are not ideal, this _is_ her first time in a nightclub; the hot music, the energetic dancing and excited chatter of the crowd—most of them enlisted men and pretty young girls like her and Sarah—prompts a sort of irresistible enthusiasm.

                Sarah stands on her tiptoes, scanning the club until finally: “There’s Alec!”

                “Where?” Alicia asks, glancing through the patrons in search of a familiar face. Following the direction in which Sarah’s pointing, she makes him out in no time, sitting at a table. But he’s not alone. “Oh God, Sarah…”

                “What?” Her friend is the epitome of innocence as she grabs Alicia’s hand and begins to pull her through the crowd.

                “I told you not to ask him to bring anyone.”

                “I didn’t ask him.”

                “You didn’t ask him,” Alicia echoes, her disbelief evident in her tone. “Then why’s there another bloke at the table?”

                Sarah hesitates. “Well, when I told him you were coming with me, he was worried that you might feel a bit left out. So he said he would bring a mate. But Alicia, I promise this will be better. If Alec and I got up to dance and left you at a table by yourself, blokes would be coming up to you every two minutes, but with someone else there…”

                “If he turns out to be a prat—”

                “Then you’ll never forgive me. I know. He won’t be, I promise.”

                The girls are a few meters away when Alec spots them, and his face immediately lights up as he jumps to his feet. Sarah giggles and releases Alicia’s hand to run into his arms. He sweeps her off her feet, hugging her tightly and pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Hi Sar,” he says as he sets her back down on the ground.

                “Hi Alec.” She giggles. “It’s really good to see you. Um, who’s your friend?”

                Everyone’s attention turns to the other bloke sitting at the table, who looks at the girls as if noticing them for the first time. “Oh! I’m Emmett.” He rises from his seat too, reaching out to shake their hands. “You must be Sarah and Alicia.”

                An American. Her arranged date is an American. A not particularly bad-looking American, although she of course has no intention of telling Sarah that she thinks so. His hair is shorter than she usually likes, but she knows that’s a military thing, probably not his fault. And he’s tall, a bit lanky… she can just imagine resting her head on his chest as they dance to a slow song and she doesn’t think she would mind one bit.

                But again. She won’t tell that to Sarah.

                Alec remains standing as the rest of them take their seats, and offers to fetch them all drinks, which everyone finds agreeable. For a few moments, the others sit in silence, until Sarah finally turns to Emmett. “So Emmett, Alec told me that the two of you became friends because you both want to be police officers once you’ve finished your time in the air force.”

                “That’s right, yeah.”

                A few moments of silence as they wait to see if he says anything else, but he doesn’t. So Sarah adds, “Anything in particular that drew you to that?”

                “I guess just because I want to catch criminals,” he says with a shrug.

                Sarah looks to Alicia for some sort of help, but Alicia is just amused. Seems like Emmett doesn’t want to be here anymore than she does.

                “How long have you been with the military?” Sarah asks after some more time has passed.

                Emmett’s brow burrows as he considers the question. “I think it’s been about two and a half years, now. I enlisted as soon as I turned eighteen.”

                “What made you want to join up?”

                 “I suppose you could say it’s in the family. My dad served during the Great War. And my granddad was in the military too, but he didn’t really see any action.”

                “So did you enlist because you wanted to or because they wanted it?” Alicia asks before she can stop herself.

                His gaze switches and he looks over at her, evidently surprised to hear her speak. Which she supposes is fair; it’s the first time she’s opened her mouth since arriving. For a moment she’s concerned that she’s somehow offended him, but then he cracks a smile. He’s got a lovely smile. “To be honest, Doll, a little bit of both.”

                At that moment, Alec returns, drinks in hand. As he sets them down on the table, he asks, “What are we talking about?”

                “I was telling them about the mischief you get up to on base.”

                Alec’s eyes begin to grow wide, but Sarah rushes to tell him, “He’s joking. We were just talking about why Emmett joined the air force. Although now I wouldn’t mind hearing stories about you making mischief.”

                He chuckles and leans down, pecking her on the lips. “Maybe I’ll slip up and share once I’ve got a drink or two in me, but not a second before.”

                The conversation at that point becomes dominated by Sarah and Alec. They occasionally ask Alicia or Emmett a question, which is answered concisely. But for the most part, the latter pair remains silent, content to sit sipping their drinks.

                But then Alec finishes his drink, and nods toward the band. “Sar, want to dance?”

                And suddenly, Emmett and Alicia find themselves alone.

                This time, he’s the first one to speak. “That was incredible.”

                “What was?”

                He gestures toward their friends’ vacant seats. “Alec. I’ve never seen him like that. All…”

                “Sociable?” Alicia offers with a smirk. He nods immediately in agreement. “Yeah, you never really get used to it. It’s hard to tell whether Alec likes anyone, except for Sarah. All you have to do is watch his face when she walks into a room and you know.”

                “Or watch his face when the mail comes,” Emmett offers. “Some of the guys only seem to keep up with their sweethearts so they have someone to keep up with, but not Alec. It makes his week when he gets a letter from her.”

                Alicia smiles and looks out to the dance floor at the couple in question. She’s so pleased to hear it, pleased to hear that Alec misses Sarah just as much as she misses him.

                “I’m sorry that he brought me along, by the way,” he adds, more quietly.

                She quickly turns to look back at him. “What do you mean?”

                “Well, you didn’t look too happy when you saw someone else sitting here.”

                “Oh, it’s not your fault,” she rushes to say. “I don’t expect an apology, certainly not from you. And I know Alec meant well; he just didn’t want me to feel left out.”

                “Then I suppose I’ll make sure you don’t feel left out.” Emmett’s gaze drifts to the dance floor. “We could dance if you like.”

                Alicia hesitates. “That’s sweet, but honestly I’d rather not.”

                He immediately looks relieved. “I’m glad to hear it; I can’t dance to save my life.”

                She stares at him, bewildered for a second but then she begins to laugh, unashamedly pleased that he offered anyway. “I wouldn’t say no to another drink, though.”

                “That I think I can do,” Emmett agrees with a small smile. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

                When he returns, he sits down in Sarah’s vacated chair so that he’s beside Alicia, who pretends not to notice the switch. “So are you still in school?” She raises her eyebrows, and he chuckles. “I don’t profess to excel at conversation, but if we’re stuck together tonight we might as well try to get to know each other.”

                “Fair enough.” Alicia smiles. “Yes, I’m still in school. I’m in sixth form.”

                “I don’t know what that means,” he confesses.

                “It’s the last level before university. I’ll be turning eighteen in about a month. Does that help?”

                “Have you decided on a university yet?”

                She cringes at the question. Just the night before at dinner, she and her father got into an argument about that very subject. “Not yet.”

                “What about what you want to study?”

                “Depends on who you ask,” and she can’t help sounding rather bitter about the whole thing.

                He cocks an eyebrow at her. “Well, I’m asking you.”

                Alicia tries, and fails, to suppress a smile. “Art. I want to study art.”

                “I can see why you might face some problems with an aspiration like that.”

                “Have your parents got any complaints about your career goals?”

                Emmett shrugs. “Not really. We’ve all loosely agreed that once I finish up in the air force, they’ll support me in whatever I’d like to do.”

                She envies him, but she also hasn’t forgotten the expression he made when she asked him whether he wanted to enlist; because he smiled, but she could swear there was a bit of a grimace there, too. He has to cope with his parents’ expectations, just as much as she does.

                With the talk of their futures also comes the thought of war—because it’s on more and more people’s minds these days, as it begins to seem more and more likely. And as soon as Alicia’s thoughts drift there, she suddenly wants to divert the conversation as far away as possible.

                “Where in America are you from?”

                “California.”

                “That’s on the west coast, correct?”

                “Yes. We have Hollywood and all that. Which is nowhere near where I grew up, but I’ve been there a handful of times on vacation.”

                “And how long have you been here in the UK?”

                “I suppose it’s been a few months now. I arrived on base about a week before Alec did. Before that I was stationed at a base right near Chicago, and I thought maybe coming here would be a nice change of scenery…”

                “But it’s about the same?”

                “Just about.” Emmett smiles widely and Alicia knows she’s smiling too.

                And then another question occurs to her and she feels her face fall slightly, just at the thought. She nearly doesn’t voice it, but given that this is, after all, just a friendly date, she’s got little reason not to ask.

                “Do you have a sweetheart back home?”

                His brow furrows in something akin to confusion. “No, I don’t. Um, when I went home for Christmas last year, I found out the girl I was sweet on had started up with one of my friends while I was gone, and since then I haven’t really… yeah.” He trails off suddenly, perhaps wondering why he went into such great detail, and casts his gaze toward the floor.

                But immediately, her heart goes out to him. “For me it was the opposite. Mine enlisted about six months ago and decided that he couldn’t very well have a girl at home when there would be plenty of girls near the base flocking a bloke in uniform.”

                Emmett snorts, Alicia’s confession making him more comfortable about his own. “Well Doll, if you ask me it sounds like you’re better off.”

                “Without a bloke or without him specifically?”

                “Probably both.” He says it with a completely straight face, and she giggles appreciatively.

                “Some blokes are better than others,” she offers. And she can’t look at him when she says it, so instead she stares at the ground, but when she looks up at him again through her lashes, he’s giving her such a soft smile.

                About an hour later, Alec and Sarah return, both of them breathless and flushed from dancing. They sit back down at the table, and Sarah grins at the other couple. “Why are the two of you still sitting here? Don’t you want to dance?”

                Emmett and Alicia smile and shake their heads, murmur that for now, they’re perfectly content to just sit and chat. The conversation again becomes dominated by Sarah and Alec.

                And then the atmosphere shifts as the band begins to play a slower, smoother tune. Before Alicia can lose her nerve, she reaches out and grabs Emmett’s hand, says, “Oh, I adore this song. Would you like to go dance?”

                He doesn’t seem to think about it; he just glances down at their joined hands and then says, “Yeah, okay. Let’s dance.”

                She grins and leaps to her feet, pulling Emmett with her and out onto the floor. It takes them some moments to get situated; he seems hesitant to put his hand at her waist, but finally he does. Alicia rests her free palm at his shoulder, and tries not to think about how taut his muscles feel underneath his shirt.

                “So you like this tune?”

                “What?” Alicia’s eyes drift to the band and back to him again. “Oh! I… honestly, I’ve never heard it before. I just wanted to get away from those two.”

                Emmett blinks down at her, his expression unreadable. “Why?”

                “I’d rather just talk with you.”

                “Oh. Alright.” He tries to maintain his look of indifference but a grin peeks through. After a few moments, he says, “I really like your dress.”

                The compliment is so unexpected that she nearly trips over his feet, and rather than thanking him, she blurts out, “What?”

                “Your dress. It suits you. I… can I still say that if we’re not on a date?”

                And maybe she’ll never forgive Sarah and Alec for engineering this, but she can’t help it if she quite likes Emmett. So she smiles, her cheeks flushing a charming pink as she says, “You’re always allowed to tell a girl if she looks pretty. And we never did say that this wasn’t a date.”

                He seems to be entirely unaffected, but then she notices the blush creeping up his neck, past his collar. “But this can’t be a date,” he says carefully.

                Immediately, her stomach drops. “Why not?”

                “Because I haven’t made a fool of myself yet.”

                Relieved, Alicia’s smile grows wider and she asks, “Oh? And that’s par for the course, yeah?”

                 “Very much so. I’m an embarrassment on dates. I never know what to say. I trip or knock my drink over within the first five minutes. So you can see why this certainly can’t qualify.”

                “Yes. This is just going too well.”

                “I’m glad you understand. Because—”

                That’s the moment when Alicia finally cuts him off, moving her hand from his shoulder to the back of his neck and pulling his head down, standing on her tip toes to meet him for a soft kiss.

                For a moment, Emmett’s mouth is still trying to form whatever the next word was that he intended to say, but then his brain catches up and he begins to kiss her back. He releases her hand and goes to grab her waist, pulling her closer.

                Almost as soon as he pulls back, Alicia longs to kiss him again, but she resists the urge. They look at each other in silence, both smiling shyly until finally Emmett clears his throat. “I hope you’re not still angry with Alec for bringing me along this evening.”

                “No, not so much.”

                “Glad to hear it.” Another kiss, this one shorter, but with the promise of plenty more to come.

                When they tire of dancing, they go back to Alec and Sarah, who beam at them both, particularly smug.

                The night slowly dwindles away, and the four of them remain at the club until closing, at which point Alec and Emmett confess that they should probably go back to base… but that they fully intend to walk the girls back to the train station first.

                And it seems only right that Alicia and Emmett lock arms. They walk ahead of the other couple, and Alicia, tired from the long evening, leans her head on his shoulder, smiling at the ease of it all.

                “I’d like to write you,” he announces. “If you’d like me to, at least.”

                Her heart flips over in her chest. “I’d like that very much.”

                “And maybe…” Emmett trails off, as though already convinced that she’ll shoot down the idea. “Well, next time they let us off base…”

                “I think something could be arranged,” Alicia agrees. Yes, she’s certain: Sarah will never let her live this down.


End file.
